Cecil F. Poole

Cecil F. Poole (July 25, 1914 – November 12, 1997) was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and earlier a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He was the first African American to serve as a United States Attorney (outside of the United States Virgin Islands), the first African American to serve as a Judge of the Northern District of California and the first African American to serve as a Judge of the Ninth Circuit.

Education and career

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Poole received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of Michigan in 1935. He received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Michigan Law School in 1938. He received a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1939. He was in private practice of law in Pittsburgh from 1940 to 1942. He was a member of the National Labor Relations Board in 1942. He was in the United States Army as a First Lieutenant from 1942 to 1945. He was Chief of the Regional Appellate Division of the United States Office of Price Administration in San Francisco, California from 1946 to 1947. He was in private practice of law in San Francisco from 1947 to 1951. He was an assistant district attorney and chief superior court deputy in San Francisco from 1951 to 1958. He was an Instructor for the Golden Gate University School of Law from 1952 to 1958. He was secretary and legal counsel to Governor Pat Brown from 1958 to 1961. He was the first African American United States Attorney for the Northern District of California from 1961 to 1970. He was a Professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley from 1969 to 1970. He was a fellow in residence at Yale Law School in 1970. He was in private practice of law in San Francisco from 1970 to 1976.^[1][2]

Federal judicial service

Poole was nominated by President Gerald Ford on June 18, 1976, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Judge Oliver Jesse Carter. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 23, 1976, and received his commission the same day, becoming the first African American to serve on this court. His service was terminated on March 31, 1980, due to elevation to the Ninth Circuit.^[1][2]

Poole was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on October 11, 1979, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 26, 1979, and received his commission on November 27, 1979, becoming the first African American to serve on this court. He assumed senior status on January 15, 1996. His service was terminated on November 12, 1997, due to his death of complications of pneumonia in San Francisco.^[1][2]

See also

• Lyndon B. Johnson judicial appointment controversies

References

Sources

• "Judge Cecil Poole, Pioneering Black California Jurist," San Francisco Chronicle (November 14, 1997).
• "Legal pioneer Cecil Poole dies at 83 -- First black federal judge in Northern California," San Francisco Chronicle (November 14, 1997).
• Haskins, James, Cecil Poole: A Life In The Law (Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 2003).

External links

• Cecil F. Poole at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• "Cecil F. Poole, 83, a Legal Leader for Blacks," New York Times (November 16, 1997).